The Edmonton Oilers beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night, and yeah, that’s a nice road win against a good team. But if you actually watched what happened on the ice, this game was about way more than two points in November.
Let’s start with the obvious: Zach Hyman is back.
After five-and-a-half months rehabbing a dislocated wrist, Hyman returned to the lineup and immediately reminded everyone what this team has been missing for 19 games. One shift in, he crashed into Frederik Andersen on a rebound attempt. By the end of the night, he’d thrown 11 hits, including a couple on Seth Jarvis that probably had people taking notes. He assisted on Connor McDavid’s second goal. He won battles along the boards. He did all the Zach Hyman things.
“It’s exciting. It’s been a long time, so it’s good to be back,” Hyman said before the game. “It was a long process. It was hard, but I had great help. You’ve just got to be patient and have a positive outlook.”
Patient is one word for it. Effective is another. Because Hyman didn’t just come back and contribute—he came back and changed how the entire team played.
The Oilers entered this game 8-7-4, playing uninspired hockey, winning just two of their previous six. They looked soft. They looked like a team missing something fundamental. And then Hyman showed up and played 17 minutes like he’d never left.
“Physically, he’s ready to go. He’s been skating for quite a while,” head coach Kris Knoblauch said. “He feels energized, rested. Having Zach back will be a huge addition to our team.”
A huge addition is right. This isn’t just about slotting guys back into their proper positions, though that helps. McDavid had two goals and an assist. Leon Draisaitl scored the overtime winner 19 seconds in and added two assists. Jack Roslovic chipped in a goal and an assist. When Hyman’s in the lineup, everyone looks better because everyone’s playing the right role.
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But it’s more than that. Hyman brings an intensity that’s impossible to fake. He led all Oilers forwards with 11 hits. He was first on pucks. He made plays in tight spaces. He did the dirty work that skill players need someone to do so they can operate with space.
Here’s the thing about Hyman that doesn’t show up in the box score: he sets a standard. When he’s throwing his body around and winning battles and going to the net, it forces everyone else to match that level of commitment. It’s not a coincidence that he was leading the playoffs with 111 hits last spring when he got injured. It’s not a coincidence that Edmonton’s physical game fell off against Florida in the Final without him.
"It's just great to see him," McDavid said. "Great to see him playing despite a significant injury, and I got to see him work his way back, and it wasn't always easy. It never is. Sometimes people forget the human side of it. It's an emotional thing to go through a significant injury like that, so to see him back and playing and healthy and moving really well, it's definitely uplifting for our group."
Forget The Score: What Is Up With Matt Savoie?
The scoreboard at Nationwide Arena read 5-4 for the Blue Jackets when the final horn sounded Thursday night, and the <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/edmonton-oilers#google_vignette">Edmonton Oilers</a> trudged off the ice having squandered a chance to extend their winning streak to three games. But buried in the frustration of another road loss, in the mistakes around the net and the disallowed goal that killed momentum, was something worth noticing: Matt Savoie is starting to look like he belongs.
The Oilers needed overtime to beat a Carolina team playing on back-to-back nights, so let’s not pretend this was a perfect performance. It wasn’t. They gave up three goals and had their share of defensive breakdowns. But perfect isn’t what they’re chasing right now. Progress and consistency are.
And for the first time in a while, that looked hopeful.
"Credit to Carolina, they played as we expected," Added Kris Knoblauch. "They're a good hockey team and play extremely hard. They force you into mistakes, and we made a few of them."
Hyman didn’t score in his season debut. He didn’t need to. His value isn’t measured in goals—it’s measured in how everyone else plays when he’s on the ice. It’s measured in the forecheck pressure that creates turnovers. It’s measured in the battles won that lead to offensive zone time. It’s measured in the tone he sets that allows McDavid and Draisaitl to do what they do best.
"He said after the game that he was just picking up right where he left off in the playoffs," continued Knoblauch. "He also told me that his legs were feeling great, so he played 20-plus minutes tonight, and it was not an easy task for a guy who hasn't played for several months."
How Badly Are The Oilers Missing Zach Hyman?
Zach Hyman might return to the Edmonton Oilers lineup tonight against Philadelphia. Might. The wrist injury he suffered in Game 4 of last season's Western Conference Final has kept him out since May 27th, and while he's been practicing with the team and looks ready, the timeline keeps shifting. First it was November 1st. Then it was within a week. Now it's maybe tonight, maybe later on the road trip.
This was Edmonton’s third win in their last four games. Small sample, sure. But watching Hyman crash and bang his way through 17 minutes like the last five months didn’t happen, watching the top line click again, watching the entire lineup play with some edge—that’s not about one game in November.
That’s about what this team can be when all the pieces are in place. And now, finally, they are.
The Oilers won the game, but what they really got back was something harder to quantify. They got back their physicality. They got back the guy who does the work that doesn’t always show up on the scoresheet but contributes to wins.
Zach Hyman is back. And so, apparently, are the Edmonton Oilers.
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